Test Your Memory

A Simple Quiz to Check Your Memory and Cognitive Skills

This simple test evaluates aspects of your memory & cognition. The quiz has two components, a performance and a historical section. This is a modified version of a quiz developed by Dr. Devi and used by TIME in a cover article on memory.

Part 1
1a. What year is it?
1b. What season is it?
1c. What month is it?
1d. What day of the week is it?
1e. What is today's date?	Eg:12/25/02
2. Remember these words: apple, table, penny
3. Without looking at your watch, write down what time it is?	hh:mm
Now look at your watch and write down the actual time:	hh:mm
4. Give the names of the current and previous four US presidents:
5. Give the names of the following items:
5a)
5b)
5c)
5d)
5e)
5f)
5g)
5h)

Part 2

6) Do you remember the address of the last place you lived?  Yes No

7) Do you find that you repeat yourself more often? Yes No

8) Do people get annoyed with you due to your memory? Yes No

9) Do you have more trouble remembering lists, such as shopping lists ? Yes No

10) Do you have trouble remembering events that happened this morning or last week? Yes No

11) Do you now have more trouble following directions? Yes No

12) Have you been getting lost more often than usual? Yes No

13) Do you have trouble finding words? Yes No

14) Do you find that you lose or misplace things more often? Yes No

15) Do your memory difficulties impair work/social life? Yes No

16) Without going back to the top of the page, write down the three words you were told to remember at the beginning of the quiz:

GREAT! You are done with the quiz. Now submit for your memory score. The interpretation of your scores is given below.

Interpretation

Note that poor scores may be due to factors such as anxiety and inattention and not just from memory difficulties. Doing well on this simple quiz also does not ensure that you have no memory or cognitive difficulties.

The best indicator of your memory is your own assessment of your abilities. A perceived consistent change in your mental capacity is a far more sensitive indicator of cognitive difficulties than most tests, including this one. You should seek further help if this is the case.

1. If you scored a 27 or 28, congratulations!
2. If you scored between 22 and 26, you may have some memory difficulties that, if persistent and interfering with function, may need to be evaluated.
3. If you scored 21 or below, and you have noticed that you have difficulty with your memory or thinking abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with functioning, you probably would benefit from a good evaluation.

Find out how your scoring was derived.